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While I do agree that DooM 3 is a bad shooter, I think it's a pretty solid first-person horror, while DooM 3: BFG edition is still a mediocre shooter and pretty bad horror on top of that.

Maybe, but you won't, if you don't just mash a bunch of mechanics together. I think it's pretty self-evident, especially in the context of TTRPGs. The "baseline" form of a roleplaying game, slovesochka, freeform roleplaying, negotiated imagination, whatever you may decide to call it, allows...

Alternative title: "Well, it makes sense" makes no sense This is a continuation of my musings on "disconnected mechanics" in another thread, but you don't have to dig that stuff up. Maybe I'm talking about completely obvious things, but the last few months I feel like my whole paradigm is...

Specifically encumbrance, in my opinion, should be designed around the idea that you can't carry e everything you'll need. Well, if you have encumbrance at all. A meaningful choice is, first and foremost, a sacrifice. If tracking a resource doesn't lead to sacrifices, then you can safely ditch...

Well, it depends. Do the benefits of tracking the resource outweight the tracking itself? There's this category of resources that are just annoying and don't do anything — and this isn't endemic to TTRPGs, vidyagames have them too: hunger in Fallout: NV, weapon condition in Dark Souls...

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I'll post a proof-of-concept game soon-ish (probably around a week or two), as well as try to structure the whole idea better

Designers and scholars, way more knowledgeable on the topic than me, are yet to agree on what a "game" even is and how it differs from "play", so I can't speak with any certainty on what is an "essence of a game". I don't know, and, frankly, don't care. For me, for a game to feel like a game...

The G part of RPG can be packaged into the resolution mechanic, creating a strong whole, while separately both are weak. And even if it's not really a game, I don't see a problem with that. I, personally, adore Blades in the Dark, but I'm not entirely sure how much of a game it is: after all...

Oh, certainly it isn't the best approach. It's just one I'm most enamored with. I'm a radical at heart, and I prefer jumping all the way in and then backing up (down? I'm not sure how this verb is constructed) a few steps rather than incrementally move forward. Yeah, pretty much, but D&D...

At any given moment, anything you can do has the same chance of success, that's what I meant. Yes! And when backed against the wall, you can decide to fight, knowing full well that it'll create more problems than it will solve (or that this time, it'll actually work). Trying to apply your best...

I'm not entirely sure the difference between a task resolution and conflict resolution actually exist, to be honest: it's just a matter of scope. Regardless, it's not important here. I'm talking about both. Imagine a hypothetical system: There's a player who controls a single character, and...

I've pondered about decoupling outcomes from the fictional situation quite a bit, but never really had an opportunity to crystalize it into words, and it seems reasonaly relevant to the thread, so why not do it here. I've come to a conclusion that I, contrary to what I thought, actually don't...

Oh, that's for sure. I don't really see a meaningful difference when it comes to challenge between "success is assured, regardless of how smartly characters act", "failure is assured, regardless of how smartly characters act", "the outcome is decided by tallying Victory Points, regardless of how...

As always, I'm gonna be unhelpful. Skill list should be as short as possible, but not any shorter. All skills must be a) useful b) irreplaceable for whatever the game focuses on. Should "Shoot" and "Fight" be two different skills? Only if both are viable and there's an added depth by...

I'm reasonably flexible (as in, I can and do enjoy very different kinds of games), as long as there's a loud and clear primer of what to expect. I'm not picking up a cat in the bag, and if things suddenly change mid-game, I'm probably gonna bail. The same goes for when I choose a game to play...

More generally, here's a simple thing: challenge (in the context of RPGs: overcoming challenges by navigating a situation in Shared Imaginary Space effectively) and storytelling are fundamentally incompatible, and there's absolutely nothing that can be done to reconcile them. Challenge demands...

I'm just gonna quote Baker here:

I have no problem with making adjustments. But, as I said multiple times before, something being possible and something being easy are two very different things. I'm playing Pasión de las Pasiones right now. It's a game that strives to emulate Mexican soap operas — a genre I'm absolutely...

And if I remember Spirit of '77 correctly, it says pretty much the same thing almost every PbtA game does: the game can function with just 2d6, but you'll be missing out. After all, if it was genuine belief of the authors, why the hell did they write the rest of the game.